I don’t usually complain about the way I feel. I don’t. I’m not one of those people with an aching back and sore feet. Why? I sleep on a good mattress, exercise, and wear Birkenstock shoes to work. And before you chime in with a comment about how unattractive Birks are, just remember that I work at a high school and there is not a soul there I need to look pretty for ? That would be gross. Plus, my shoes mean I can walk and walk and walk and walk, and my legs and feet NEVER hurt. Never.

Anyway, I think my bed is about to the point where it needs replaced. It is a super mattress, but it’s a twin and was always meant to be used for the time being,. My amazing mattress is a King and it is in my storage unit. I dream about that bed. It is a Springair and it rocks, absolutely rocks.

My sister has a sleep number bed, though, and is always singing its praises. She has me curious. I can admit that. My super-bed, the one in storage, might be amazing but it is still the bed I shared with my ex husband so although it is comfortable – it is saturated with bad memories. I can see the justification of the consideration for a brand new bed when I move the next time.

I want to continue to be the person who gets a great night’s sleep. So, you can bet I will spend what I need to spend to replace my mattress with the best possible bed on the market. I owe it to myself to at least consider a sleep number. Hmm, maybe y brother-in-law would give up his spot for a few nights and let me test theirs.

I think I am down to just one TV in storage now. I took yet another one out to use in the house after giving away the ones that are not working as well as I like. I did not get the big screen in the divorce, which turned out to be a good thing since it stopped working a few month s after I moved in and my ex ended up having go buy a new television anyway.

I’m OK with my old-style sets for now. We have the TV in a smaller room and the picture is fine. My daughter is not picky and I am not watching a lot of movies on the set. I spend my money judiciously and make larger purchases less often than I used to. I have been shopping around for an LCD TV and will buy one – one day. I want to get a phenomenal price and never have to look at thing and wish I had not forked out the bucks.

The truth of the matter is that I see things like televisions and audio equipment as pure luxuries. They are absolutely not necessities and I can live happily without the latest, trendiest version. I do not need a Blueray. I do not need an iPod. I do not need an LCD mounted to the all of my family room. These are things I want, not things I need. Because of my ability to separate want and need, I have a healthier savings account that most people I know, even though I make much less money annually than most of my friends and family. Spend less, save more buy a house sooner than later. It works for me.

It has been many years now since our last bad hurricane season. Of course, you would never know that from the way the home insurance companies bellyache and go groveling to Tallahassee begging to be allowed to raise rates 60% and more. They talk like Florida is costing them all of their profit year after year, when a storm has barely hit here since my daughter was a baby.

Anyway, back during that last bad hurricane season my mom’s fences blew down. Her neighbor on one side went halfsies with her to put the fence back up along their shared property line. The neighbor on the other side put up a white fence. That still eaves the two front sections and one curbside of the yard unfenced. The house is on a corner lot, so it actually has five sections that need fencing.

As much as this neighborhood seems private, the lack of a fence in the backyard means I do not like my daughter to play outside alone, I always make sure I am fully dressed when I am out there, and I feel like the world is watching when I am bent over sweating overt the flowerbeds. I want to splurge soon and have the remaining yard sections fenced, but my mother says she prefers not to bother.

Granted, most of the money you spend in a fencing project is the cost of the fence installation. I could go to Home Depot and buy the sections and a post digger and a bag of concrete and set the fence myself, but I would probably do a flimsy job. If I could recruit a few friends it might work out better. In the end, I know that paying someone is the best way to go because if they are putting in fences day after day, they more than likely have the technique down to an art. That is way it kills me that I am not stronger and handier around the house. Living without a man in the house can be bliss due to the lack of conflict and negative make energy, but at times I wish there was a handy guy in the other room who could go out and complete talks for me. Of course, when I was married my husband was absolutely useless ant home projects anyway, so I am not sure what I am bothering to complain about.

My “newest” Mac is an old G3, and to be honest I really don’t even try to use it anymore. It has all sorts of amazing software, though, so I hate to get rid of it. My old boss gave it to me when they shut down the business. I would have taken him up n the offer of the amazing Tektronix laser printer, but it was as big as a Volkswagen bug and the ink cost a fortune.

My mom, on the other hand, has a pretty new Mac laptop. She paid an arm and a leg for it, but she got my student discount since I was with her when she bought it. Since she is not super computer savvy, the Mac has been ideal for her. It’s still the simpler computer to use and she does not have to worry about virus issues like those of us who use a PC. Plus, right around the corner this guy has a little shop where he does repairs and upgrades fro next to nothing, so she keeps it fine tuned with his help. He worked a little magic with some Apple memory last week, come to think of it. And, he had ordered a few pieces fro her keyboard. The dog jumped on mom’s laptop and popped off one of the keys, which on her particular computer must begin a chain of events that begins to make the keyboard useless.

I know I have said that instead of buying anything new right now I am just going to have my Dell laptop and desktop overhauled, and I mean that. I still wish I could run out and buy a new Mac, though. One district north, all of the teachers get issued a cute little Apple laptop. IF you are lucky enough to get issued a laptop in my district, it’s just a Dell.

In other news…

A Reading Endorsement is a rider a teacher in Florida can earn and add to their certifications. It is required for all reading teachers and now that most schools have the pick of the best during the job shortage, anyone who teaches English really needs to have it.

I decided to go ahead and begin working on mine this spring. It has 5 competency areas and a practicum, and is at least 300 credit hours of work. I recently signed up for one of the competencies in an online cours4e,.

In the meantime, a friend of mine who already has her Reading Endorsement asked me if any of the coursework I did at St. Pete College when I was doing my teacher certification could be applied to the endorsement. I heard back today that I do not have to take competencies 3, 4, and 5 – just 1 and 2, as well as the practicum. I can get all of the coursework out of the way early this summer and all I will have to do this fall is the practicum.

That’s some great news to offset my anxiety about yesterday’s exam results.

Holy cow. I have been reviewing study materials this week for an additional subject area exam I took this afternoon. It is in my area of passion. I have more than one college degree associated with the subject. I have taken class after class on how to teach it. I am in the subject classes daily at the high school. I’m well-read and associate with others who are well-read in the subject.

Even so, I came out of the exam feeling like a simpleton. Since there was an essay involved, I did not get my score immediately and have to wait about three weeks for the results. If I did not pass, I cannot re-take the exam for at least 31 days, not to mention that it was pricey to take it in the first place.

*sigh*

I know the high school is going to be thinking about new hires soon. I need to get my little resume packet together and was hoping I could say with all honesty that all of my desired certifications were up and running.

Cross your fingers for me, or better yet say a pray. Of course, that prayer is not for me to do well on the test, since what is done is done. Those prayers would be for my wrecked nerves!

It’s been a rough couple of weeks. My daughter was sick for abut a week and then she faithfully passed her illness along to me. Of course, said illness mutated when it hit my system and was worse even than when my daughter had it. A stiff round of antibiotics for both of us seems to be clearing it up enough to go on with life. However, I worked myself through the illness all week and finally had to admit defeat yesterday at about 10:30 am. Gratefully, where I work that means half my day is already over, so I only had to take half a day’s sick leave. Being a mom means saving sick days to be home when my daughter is sick. I have to strike a balance.

I’ve been seeing messages for the last couple of days on Facebook from several of my friends about the death of someone I knew long ago. Back when I lived in Maryland, there was a family at my church who I spent a lot of time with. I babysat for the younger three of their four children often, helped them out around the house, and in return had a comfortable place to call home when I was weary of apartment living. Their youngest passed away this week at age 17.

I ache when I think about losing my own daughter. She is my heart. I do not think having four children takes even an ounce of the pain way for this family. One child, four children – losing your child is probably the hardest thing anyone has to go through. I know my divorce was emotionally the hardest thing I have encountered so far, but if something were to happen to my daughter it would be far worse.

Motherhood is indeed the most amazing thing to have ever happened to me. It bring out of me the best, and the worst. I am taught new lessons daily – by my daughter and by the world around me. I am forever learning, and rewarded over and over with boundless love. I did nothing to deserve my daughter’s love, except give birth to her. It’s so simple that it makes me cry some days.

It’s time once again to explore some of the fun things to do right here in Florida. And for those of use who live in the state, there is nary a reason to leave home. Our vacations are right here.

While a vacation in Kissimmee very well may mean fun trips to family theme parks, some world class golfing, and dining in restaurants helmed by famous chefs like Emeril. However, you have to round out the pricey side of your vacation with the plethora of fun, free things Kissimmee has to offer.

Yes, I said free.

You don’t always have to have a pocketful of money to have a memorable time in Florida. You can meander along the brick-lined streets of Old Town and discover shops, vintage car shows, and amusement park rides – not to mention the free concerts. There are parks and other venues for viewing Florida’s exciting wildlife. Hanging out at Downtown Disney is free and for us that always means spending some time at the outdoor section of the Legoland Store.

One of my favorite low-cost options for fun here in Florida is going to see Spring Training games. Both the Houston Astros and the Atlanta Braves train in Osceola County.

Whether you’re headed to Kissimmee to take advantage of al the free or nearly-free attractions, or if you’ve been budgeting all year so you can spend freely in the theme parks and dinner theaters, there is always something to do. And, right now you can enter the Kissimmee Freedom Sweepstakes.

Since the best things in life are free (in my opinion) Kissimmee is giving away three (3) weekend getaways (3 days/2 nights) for two (2); and two (2) weeklong vacations for four (4). Those getaways include airfare and a rental car. Drawings will be held on or around 4/15/09 and 5/21/09. Can you think of a better way to threat yoru family to some amazing fun in these unsure economic times? I can’t.

An appropriate start to an ominous day. I woke up at 4 a.m. to the sound of my daughter’s voice. She told me she was too hot to sleep and her skin hut. In my half asleep twilight state of mind, I simply turned on her ceiling fan and told her to go back to sleep. When we woke up at 5:30, she was hot to the touch. I took her temperature and found she was 102.4ºF.

I found some flu medicine and fever reducer and talked my mother into staying home with her so that I could still go to work. While the fever reducers kept her temperature down, it shot back up every time the meds were ready to wear off. By the time I got home from work, I could tell I needed to get Gigi in with our pediatrician. It’s never good to start out sick on Friday and have to risk the walk in clinic over the weekend.

When we reached the peds office, my daughter’s temperature was up to 104.4 ºF. The first order of business was to get the temperature down. Once we accomplished that, we were able to rule out a lot of things and settle on either the flu or a sinus infection. I walked out with a lot of good advice and a prescription for a heavy antibiotic.

Also, even though we always use a saline mist before blowing our noses in the morning, the doctor talked to us about full our sinus irrigating. It’s a good idea, really, and I have considered it a lot in the past. We take on a lot of illness that we would not have had to if we could all just maintain a healthy sinus cavity.

Wish us well. On top of the fact that my daughter and I are already pretty physically taxed from fighting off the severe pollen level sin Florida right now; the flu is making rounds in our area. I have a sneaking suspicion that the rest of the family will be sick by Monday.

My daughter has been after me for a long time to sign her up for dance. A LONG time. A couple of years ago I tried a combo tap-ballet-tumbling class, but she cried through most it and I stopped taking her after a few weeks. I signed her up last summer for a little princess ballet camp, but I was more than unimpressed with the teachers at that dance school – even though a lot of people say it is one of the best in the area.

Besides, it seems like every little girl takes ballet. It almost seems trite.

I started looking around for something unique for my daughter. Most of the studios around her offer ballet, tap, jazz, hip hop, and all of the other mainstream styles. I was bored just listening to the pitches. One city over in Dunedin, there is a strong Scottish tradition and a lot of places teacher Highland dancing. It seemed to me to be more suited for my daughter. However, when I showed her videos of people performing in the style, she was uninterested.

This week, though, a friend at school mentioned that her daughter takes Irish dance here in the area. I did a little research and found some great video clips online of the kids in that particular program competing. My daughter was enraptured. There was just enough precision, athleticism, and vigor to catch her fancy.

And so, I’m not pursuing Irish dance lesson for my daughter. For the first time, she and I both agree on an extracurricular.

Heading into March is such a conflicted time for me here in Florida. This is when our spring allergy season begins and I know that the next month or so is going to be rough on me, and my daughter. We both feel sick for weeks, though it’s not a contagious sort of sick. Sneezing, cough, wheezing, itching, red eyes, and pretty much every other typical seasonal allergy symptom – these are all my fulltime companions for at least the next month. Pretty soon I will need to stop wearing my contact lenses on a daily basis and resort to my glasses. And while my glasses are decidedly cute, I lose all depth perception while wearing them – and that alone is enough to make me ponder laser surgery year after year.

On the other hand, forever green and flowery Florida becomes even more green and flowery beginning in late February and early March. Trees all over the place have pink and blue and purple blossoms. The oak trees and the maples are putting out astounding amounts of pollen, and new baby leaves. It is, in a word, breath-taking. The overall beauty of Florida increases a hundred-fold in the spring.

As I said, I’m conflicted. I’m miserable, and in awe. I’m achy and tired and bleary-eyes, but my mood is elevated by all of the color and light and fresh outdoor smells. And, I keep reminding myself that before I moved to Florida I suffered through two allergy seasons a year – spring and fall. I was born and raised in the Washington, DC suburbs. Four seasons are nice, but with those additional seasons come additional allergy seasons. I miss autumn, but being able to breath effortlessly throughout the autumn is a more than fair tradeoff.